40 Multilingual Margins 2018, 5(1): 40-65 Language, food and gentrification: signs of socioeconomic mobility in two Gothenburg neighbourhoods
Johan Järlehed University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures Helle Lykke Nielsen University of Southern Denmark, Centre for the Middle East Studies Tove Rosendal University of Gothenburg, Department of Languages and Literatures
Correspondence to: [email protected]
ABSTRACT This paper examines at how language and food intersect and interact in gentrification processes. As a capital-driven social process aiming at enhancing the socioeconomic value of urban space, gentrification implies mobility both in the sense that it attracts new people, businesses and capital to an area, and in the form of displacement of less affluent and prestigious people, businesses and semiotic resources from central to marginal urban spaces. The paper examines linguistic and visual traces of such mobilities in two neighbourhoods in Gothenburg, Sweden. Based on the observation that food and food practices are central for the production and reproduction of social distinction, the analysis centres on food related establishments and signs. In particular, it discusses the distinction-making function of prestigious languages, elite gastronomic registers, and gourmet food trucks, and how these depend on the marginalization of low status languages, popular gastronomic registers and cheap generic food carts. People’s interaction with these resources contributes to the reconfiguration of social and urban space.
Keywords: gentrification, distinction, gastronomic register, food trucks, linguistic landscape
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 41 Introduction but also through flows and (im)mobility of people, products, and capital (Lou Cities are in constant change as people 2016). Patterns of socioeconomic (im) and capital move in and out of particular mobility leave physical and linguistic neighbourhoods. Cities also feature social traces in urban space, and such inequalities as economic wealth, cultural traces look different in economically capital, and political power are unevenly advantaged and disadvantaged spaces, distributed. The city of Gothenburg, or in what Stroud and Mpendukana Sweden, is no exception. In 2021, the (2009) call ‘sites of luxury’ and ‘sites of city celebrates its 400th anniversary and necessity’. for this occasion large parts of the city Food has always been a central are being rebuilt and renovated. As part ingredient of life, as both nourishment of the anniversary vision, the city council and culture. However, within present stresses the increased socio-cultural and day urban landscapes and lifestyles, linguistic diversity of the inhabitants especially in gentrified areas, food resulting from immigration and has become even more important as a underlines the importance of creating resource for the production of symbolic an open and inclusive ambience (City and economic value (Berg and Sevón of Gothenburg 2018). The renovations 2014; Roe, Sarlöv Herlin, and Speak and reconstructions imply changes that 2016). At the same time, patterns of social not only affect people who live and work inequality are reflected in which cuisines, in specific areas, but also create new and associated ‘languages’ and ‘cultures’, patterns of mobility by attracting new are seen as trendy and prestigious, and visitors to these areas. which are not (Martin 2014). Gentrification emerges as a central In this paper, we want to tie these process and concept for the study of observations together as we analyse socioeconomic mobility in urban spaces. the semiotic landscape (Jaworski and Simply understood as the socioeconomic Thurlow 2010) in two Gothenburg upscaling of a neighbourhood and its neighbourhoods. In particular, we inhabitants, gentrification has been examine how food and language – broadly widely discussed within social sciences understood – interact in the making (see e.g. Shaw 2008; Zukin 2010), but of place, and how specific linguistic less so within language studies (see varieties and gastronomic registers Papen 2012; Lyons and Rodríguez- displayed on food-related establishments Ordóñez 2015; Trinch and Snajdr 2017 function within gentrification and for exceptions). Being both driven migration processes. Throughout the by and contributing to the unequal analysis we are concerned with inequality distribution of power, capital, and space, as materialized in practices of social gentrification is intimately linked to differentiation and spatial segregation. socio-economic mobility and segregation (Holgersson and Thörn 2014). The linguistic landscape of a Gastronomic registers, neighbourhood is embedded both in (im)mobility and activities on the local scale, among its residents and visitors, and on a translocal scaling in urban space scale through use of specific global, The city has been described as ‘a mosaic international languages and registers, of polarised geographies of wealth, social
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 42 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL status, health, ethnicity and gender’, and Gentrification is linked to language (Giolla Chríost 2007: 10). This migration and segregation in dynamic means that we can expect noticeable and complex ways. Many researchers differences between different areas of a have shown how gentrification processes city: language, money, space, and power contribute to spatial segregation within are unevenly distributed. At the same cities, since people with lesser resources time, cities are in constant movement are forced to move out of gentrified and change, and people with different neighbourhoods. Shortell (2016: backgrounds and social positions are 223) argues that ‘the more immigrant living, working and moving side by side. neighbourhoods are stigmatized, the However, differences are often upheld easier it is for urban planners and despite mobility: people tend to stick to developers [...] to frame gentrification their own group and class, creating a sort as a solution to the problem’ (see also of ‘uneasy co-existence’ (Shortell 2016: Holgersson 2014). At the same time, and 80) or ‘parallel play’ (DeSena 2012: 82) to a certain extent, different groups often of distinct groups. The (re)production of co-exist in gentrified neighbourhoods difference and distinction then emerges since ‘members of the ethnic/racial as a core activity of urban life. As will be majority (higher in class and status) often illustrated by the analysis presented in regard the presence of other groups as this paper, this can be seen in the ‘scalar a desirable characteristic, part of what practices’ and ‘scalar work’ (Carr and makes the neighbourhood exotic or gritty, Lempert 2016) involved in gentrification or even authentic’ (Shortell 2016: 210). processes, whereby particular semiotic This is no surprise as long as the Others resources are used for (re)producing not are too many, or associated with low and challenging social imagination and status groups, places, and languages (see differentiation tied to place. Such semiotic our analysis of the differentiated use resources include, but are not limited and value of Arabic in different parts of to, national languages and indexes, Gothenburg below). i.e. words and expressions associated As shown by Trinch and Snajdr with specific languages and cultures. (2017), a core feature of gentrification Furthermore, they include varied is distinction. Distinction then does constellations of ‘visual multilingualism’ not just mean that something is (Kelly-Holmes 2014) and forms linked different from something else, but that to what we here call gastronomic this difference is socio-economically registers, that is, ‘ways of speaking’ in recognized and valued (Bourdieu 1984). relation to food products and practices Trinch and Snajdr (2017) identify two (e.g. merchandising, consumption) that types of signs which are vital when index socially imagined configurations analysing economic and social aspects of of class, ethnicity and (im)mobility. As ongoing gentrification processes: ‘Old signalled by the quotation marks, we School Vernacular’ and ‘Distinction- develop a multimodal and socio-semiotic making signage’. ‘Old school’ signs understanding of register as comprising index capitalism without distinction, by visuals, colour, (typo)graphic design in including all languages used by people addition to verbal ‘language’. living in the neighbourhood, thus bringing inclusivity in the neighbourhood economy. Contrary to this, distinction- making signage represents ‘an exclusivity
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 43 that for some readers also represents that when we are examining the rhythm exclusion’ (ibid.: 64). These signs are of a particular place we must take into often minimalistic (for example, they account human, linguistic, institutional, use one word or a short phrase in and built features. Mobility within a city reduced font size, often with lower case is dynamic and varies from place to place letters) and frequently display playful and with time. metareferences, polysemic or cryptic In line with critical sociolinguistics’ names, or use languages that index and discourse analysis’ intents to sophistication and worldliness (ibid.: reveal and counter social inequality, we 75). In distinction-making signs the use approach the notion of language as ‘a set of languages is symbolic or fetishised of resources which circulate in unequal rather than instrumental-communicative ways in social networks and discursive (Kelly-Holmes 2014). Thus, the content spaces’ (Heller 2007: 2). That is, is not always understood by the audience. ‘language’ should not be seen as one sole The English or other prestige languages homogeneous thing (a system, structure, used for this kind of signage in gentrified practice, etc.) but a complex and and socio-economically stratified stratified set of communicative resources neighbourhoods contribute to scaling and ‘features’ (Jørgensen 2008). Since up the value of the neighbourhood, its the usage of such resources and features people, and businesses. In such areas, is conditioned by social, economic, outside the Anglophone world, English cultural, and political aspects, the im/ has an emblematic function, along with mobility of particular resources depends other prestigious languages, as opposed on ‘the indexical value that [they] to a referential use of other languages have in certain spaces and situations’ (Vandenbroucke 2016). (Blommaert 2010: 12). This means that In their analysis of linguistic and we need to take the situated negotiation of cultural commodification processes in indexicality into account in our analysis. Chinatown, Washington DC, Leeman We do this by focusing on the scalar work and Modan (2009: 332) argue that we involved in the socioeconomic upscaling need to examine ‘how written language of place. Every time we move or imagine interacts with other features of the built and present something as something environment to construct commodified else (bigger/smaller, better/worse, richer/ urban places’. In this paper, we are not poorer, etc.) we engage in scalar work just studying commercial signage, but (Carr and Lempert 2016). However, also the impact of religious institutions it is important to distinguish between on the linguistic landscape (see scale and value; a new perspective on Blommaert 2013). In doing so, we see something does not automatically imply how written and visual language interacts or cause an up- or down-scaling of the with the built and social environment; value of the same thing. The economic here, the religious institutions value of language emerges when condition signage and physically attract language ‘can be exchanged for other people to the area. The rhythm of a symbolic or material resources’ (Del place is composed by people’s daily Percio, Flubacher, Duchêne 2017: 55). movements, and simultaneously the Such exchanges often involve shifts of ‘institutional arrangements and the perspective and hence scalar work. material affordances’ that condition We engage in scalar work by them (Edensor 2010: 70). This means choosing a prestigious ‘language’ for
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 44 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL a restaurant name or a food product consumption. Even though most (within the contemporary Western world, languages are likely to stay foreign these have typically included French and and opaque to most people, particular Italian), but also by deploying particular expressions and words emerge as more linguistic registers. Registers are ‘forms or less emblematic indexes of entire of linguistic differentiation’ (Irvine languages and cultures. Within a political 2001: 33). They serve to position the economy where cosmopolitanism and speakers and interaction in social space, safe exoticism have high currency, to align with or distantiate from certain market-smart people tend to pick social positions defined along continua up such foreign and exotic words of categories such as class, gender, and and strategically use them for social ethnicity. Put simply, ‘the way people positioning, i.e. for scaling up the social speak expresses and brings into being status of themselves, their taste, and their social differences’ (Blackledge, Creese experiences. Many of these linguistic and Takhi 2014, 488). As part of ‘a bits and pieces pertain to food products sociolinguistic economy’ (Irvine 2001) and practices. Tracing changes in the or ‘political economy of language’ consumption of a particular foodstuff (del Percio, Flubacher and Duchêne within one culture or country can reveal 2017), particular registers, and other changes in taste regimes (Järlehed and language features such as styles, ‘are Moriarty, 2018). An examination of the highly valued and rewarded while changing practices and infrastructure of others get stigmatized or ignored’, and a local food scene – i.e. what foodstuffs ‘expertise and access to influential and are offered where, how, and to whom prestigious [registers], styles, genres, and – can tell us about similar changes in media is unevenly distributed across any taste regimes and how they tie into population’ (Irvine 2001: 33). This way local urban transformations related to ‘language and discourse play a central gentrification. Furthermore, when one role in the production and legitimation of kind of food-based activity moves into a inequality and stratification’ (Blommaert neighbourhood, another is often forced and Rampton 2011: 13). Furthermore, to move out (Martin, 2014). This is due as forms of linguistic differentiation, to a combination of higher rents, city registers always exist within ‘a system policies, and market-driven changes in of distinction’; they ‘index properties of consumer taste and demand. your present situation and social activity’ In this paper we put forward the or ‘a situation you are trying to create’ notion of gastronomic register to address (Irvine 2001: 27). This means registers the linguistic and semiotic practice of associated with high value and prestige social differentiation and positioning are likely to be used – with more or less as related to food and food practices. detail and proficiency – in aspirational Gastronomic registers are thus seen as interactions such as advertising or semiotic resources that serve to present ordering of foodstuffs, where the and position speakers, practices and speaker/writer either invites others or spaces/places in relation to food. Since aims at being recognized as a member of registers as Gal (2018, 3) says, are made up some kind of elite. of ‘co-occurring forms [which] are usually Within increasingly multilingual not only linguistic but multimodal’, they urban centers, people meet a multitude materialize in various ways. For instance, of languages through their daily in the name of a particular food product
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 45 in a specific language, in the usage of The neighbourhoods isolated language-specific expressions in a verbal exchange around food, in We have chosen to focus this study on the visual display of particular food two centrally located neighbourhoods stuffs, or in the specific shape and look in Gothenburg: Olivedal and Gamlestaden of a food truck. These register forms (see figure 1). The areas are comparable resonate distinction-making and scalar in size and structure, with a mix of work related to food and social practices residential buildings, businesses, around food such as production, and restaurants. However, socio- consumption and display. Consequently, economic and demographic data show gastronomic registers are an important that the inhabitants of the Olivedal part of what we elsewhere have called neighbourhood are more affluent the semiofoodscape, that is, ‘a dynamic and well-educated than inhabitants social construction that relates food to in Gamlestaden, where we find more places, people (class hierarchies) and immigrants, with an income level below materialities’ (Järlehed and Moriarty the city average (see table 1). under review: 2018:6). In this study we have chosen to document the northern part of the Olivedal area, close to the industrial harbour, more specifically the so-called
Figure 1: Gothenburg City Layout with Olivedal (left) and Gamlestaden (right). The red lines indicate the streets documented in our study. Sources: Boplats (Areas in Gothenburg: https://nya.boplats.se/tipshjalp/sokahyresratt/kartor) and Official Tourist Map of Gothenburg and the Archipelago 2017/2018.
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 46 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL
Table 1: Olivedal and Gamlestaden: Socio-economic and demographic data
OLIVEDAL GAMLESTADEN GOTHENBURG Population 11,313 8,698 541,145 Population changes 2013-2014 +94 +696 +7,874 Born abroad 14.1% 30.3% 24.0% Unemployment 3.1% 7.0% 6.6% College/university education (more than 3 years) 50.6% 31.2% 33.9% Participation in municipal election 2014 85.6% 73.6% 79.2%
Source: City Council of Gothenburg (Göteborgsbladet 2015 ‐ Områdesfakta, Samhäll- sanalys och Statistik, Göteborgs stadsledningskontor)
Långgatorna (Första and Andra Långgatan, with buzzling restaurants and crowded literally ‘First Long street ’and ‘Second pubs during weekend nights, but empty Long street’) and the streets found in streets on a Tuesday at 10.30 am. between these long, parallel streets. The Built on a very old trading settlement, neighbourhood is situated west of the the other neighbourhood, Gamlestaden, square Järntorget, which has been the is actually the oldest part of Gothenburg centre for the labour movement since (Jörnmark, Forsemalm, and Palmås the late 1800s and today is a vital traffic 2016). Today, we do not see any traces junction and meeting place. Today, the of the early settlements. The current streets are characterized by restaurants, buildings date from 1915 to 1960, with pubs, and small and independent a mix of the typical one brick and two shops, located in the typical three storey wooden storeys landshövdingehus (roughly houses of the area. This part of town was ‘Governor’s house’, a building type originally built in the mid/end of the unique to Gothenburg), small squares, 17th century and had for a long time and curved streets. Most of the buildings a rather bad reputation (the majority were constructed at the beginning of the of the present buildings date from the 20th century to accommodate workers 1870s-1910s, Hultgren 2012: 5). This and big, low-income families. old workers’ neighbourhood is today Gamlestaden earlier had the gentrified and has transformed into character of an industrial community a living area for high income citizens. at the outskirts of the city. Most people However, the gentrification process is not living here were employed by two big totally completed. There are still some industries, the textile factory Gamlestadens small, simple and cheap beer houses, Fabriker and the bearings and seal factory alternative clothing shops, record shops, SKF (originally Svenska Kullagerfabriken), and vegan restaurants, as well as political which is still a landmark of the area. organisations, which have resisted the Resulting from the socioeconomic ongoing transformation of the area. The upscaling of the area, families moved out area, especially the streets Långgatorna, to new-built, modern flats in the suburbs is characterized by a special rhythm from the end of the 1950s onwards. The
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 47 population of Gamlestaden decreased were photographed in May 2016 (in and the area became rather run-down. addition to these, complementary Today most houses are modernized or overview-photos of streets were taken, refurbished. as well as individual photos of parts Today Gamlestaden has an air of of the storefronts and less permanent a small town or a residential borough signage, such as stickers and posters). with minor businesses, shops, and cafés/ The individual photos were subsequently restaurants. The area is heavily influenced allocated to shop or activity storefront in by car traffic, with a main big autostrada, NVivo 11, which we used as a database Artillerigatan, cutting through the area, and analytical tool. because of earlier plans to tear down We employed a mixed methods the area. On the southern side we find approach, involving both quantitative the area called Bellevue with small-scale and qualitative methods for the analysis. commercial activities, many ethnic shops, Each storefront was coded for number of mosques, and religious associations. This languages (1, 2, 3, 3+), language choice part of the neighbourhood has become and combination (e.g. Swedish and what Loukaitou-Sideris (2002) terms English; Swedish, Arabic and Kurdish) ‘ethnically gentrified’, that is a gradual and hierarchy (first, second and third displacement of traditional Swedish language). In addition we classified the shops and business with commercial type of activity of each unit of analysis activities owned or run by mainly Muslim (e.g. supermarket, hair salon, cultural immigrants. North of the dividing association, religious institutions). street, we find restaurants, shops, Based on this coding we calculated the official cultural institutions, schools, and quantitative distribution and visibility of residential areas. Gamlestaden is thus particular linguistic codes, combinations, divided both physically and socially. We and their visual hierarchy within each chose to include both these parts as this area. division of public space in Gamlestaden We further made a thematic coding influences patterns of language use and of all the photos, searching for and mobility in the area. The mosques have exploring patterns of sociolinguistic a pull effect on visitors on Fridays in the change (Coupland 2016). In addition to Bellevue part, while cultural institutions noting gastronomic registers (popular have a similar pull effect through and elite registers), we thematically concerts etc. on the northern side of coded place (landmarks, linguistic Artillerigatan. place-marking, visual place- and culture- markers), and signs of gentrification (minimalistic display, semiotic and Methodology and data linguistic play, ‘time-markers’ on signs). We documented 9 streets, totalling Even markers of historical migration, 3460 meters, in Olivedal and 12 streets, versatile business types visible on totalling 3760 meters, in Gamlestaden. storefronts, transliteration practices, and Four of the streets in the neighbourhood visual multilingualism were identified. Gamlestaden were situated in the Our data present a higher density Bellevue quarter (1440 meters). Both the of stores/businesses in Olivedal than left and the right side of all streets were in Gamlestaden. Additional detailed documented. A total of 226 storefronts analysis of the amount, kind and content in Olivedal and 157 in Gamlestaden of the signs in the two neighbourhoods
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 48 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL shows that Gamlestaden, with Hutton’s Piller (2001), in her study of words, is a more ‘text-rich’ area while advertising in Germany found that Olivedal is more ‘text-poor’ (2011: 166), bilingual advertisements in English that is, signage in the former area is and German were used to reach generally more loaded with written and middle-class Germans. These bilingual visual symbols than signage in the latter advertisements are attributed values such area. Later, we will discuss these features as internationalism, future orientation, some more with reference to Trinch and success and elitism, sophistication, and Snajdr’s (2017) notions of ‘old school’ fun (Piller 2001: 173). In the same way and 'distinction-making' signs. as bilingual use of German and English is ‘the “natural” option for successful middle-class Germans’ (Piller 2001: English as distinction- 155), bilingual signs in Swedish and making resource English, which frequently occur in Olivedal, emerge as the highest form In the following sections, the use of linguistic currency when targeting of language and ‘languages’ as customers in this neighbourhood. This part of gentrification processes language combination thus serves for and socioeconomic upscaling of making Olivedal distinctive (Trinch and neighbourhoods will be demonstrated Snajdr 2017), that is, to attract capital and commented upon, starting with in terms of both daily consumption and the use of English in Olivedal and long term investments (e.g. housing Gamlestaden. The use of specific and business). As shown in a number distinction-making languages illustrates of studies (among others Thurlow and value attribution to businesses, people Jaworski 2003; Lin Pan 2010; Lanza and places, as shown here by the and Woldemariam 2014), the English commodified use of English. language serves as such a marker and English is more frequent on signs producer of distinction around the in Olivedal than in Gamlestaden, both world and is used for scalar work in both alone and in combination with Swedish. neighbourhoods. Almost 10% of the investigated Olivedal Figure 2 shows a typical distinction- signs were written in English only, making sign in the trendy Olivedal while English-only signs barely exist neighbourhood. By choosing a in Gamlestaden (only found on one prestigious name ‘street life’, written in storefront). We see the same pattern English and with lower case letters, the with the combination of Swedish and producers index and try to create a cool, English. More than 40% of the signs in urban social activity and atmosphere. the Olivedal area were written in both ‘street life’ is the name of a bar. Swedish and English, which is twice as However, the type of business is only frequent as in Gamlestaden. We also indicated by the small Heineken name find a few combinations of English and and symbol (red star) at the lower another language in Olivedal. All these right bottom of the sign. The use of combinations are with other European English here is clearly connotational languages. In Gamlestaden we only (Piller 2001: 163) and emblematic see one instance of the combination (Vandenbroucke 2016: 97). English here of English with another language: an indexes worldliness and sophistication English-Turkish storefront. and the bar-name has a youthful, hip
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 49
Figure 2: Distinction-making sign on Andra Långgatan, Olivedal1
Figure 3: Distinction-making sign on Artillerigatan, Gamlestaden urban connotation. The colourful neon Although infrequent, we find design stresses the coolness. The sign is similar distinction-making signs in minimalist in not explicitly stating that it Gamlestaden. The local pizza restaurant is a bar. This understatement is part of ‘SLICE of New York’ in Artillerigatan is the up-scale sign design, which stresses an example of such an up-scaling use of distinction (Jaworski Forthcoming 2018). English, even in this neighbourhood. Thus, the sign serves to position and The pizza snack bar has an orange distantiate the business and uses English circular neon sign with the name SLICE as part of the design. written in capital letters in white on
1 All the photos in the paper are taken by the authors.
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 50 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL the orange background with ‘of New This use of valued languages as part of York’ printed in handwriting font below. upscaling and as a visual sign of ongoing PIZZA KEBAB BURGER is written gentrification of the area are found in above the name in the circular logo and some establishments. Trattoria Maglia, PREMIUM INGREDIENTS under the for example, established in 2015 (written logo. This trademark is also found on the in Italian on the restaurant window: ‘Dal windows of the place. On the windows 2015’) is situated in a piazza-like square of the snack bar either ‘PIZZA’, ‘KEBAB’ in the centre of Gamlestaden, and is a or ‘BURGER’ is written in big capital White guide sister restaurant of a well- letters in black on a grey bottom on top known Italian restaurant in another part of the window, accompanied by the logo/ of Gothenburg, Majorna. The restaurant trademark in orange centred below, in uses Italian as a distinction-making the middle of the window. This is clearly register, and serves ‘Aperitivo’ instead of ‘After work’, which is the coined Swedish/ an aspirational use of English, aiming Scandinavian term for meeting colleagues to associate the restaurant to worldliness for a (happy hour) drink after work. The and international, cosmopolitan New design stands out as typically discrete, York. Simultaneously, what is offered with white letters on a black background, (pizza, kebab, and hamburgers) is today giving a sophisticated appearance; see regarded as typical Swedish fast food. The Jaworski (forthcoming 2018). terms have entered a Swedish vocabulary Still, the more typical restaurants in available to the general public and are Gamlestaden are run by immigrants from part of a Swedish gastronomic register the Middle East/the Arabic-speaking which, instead of indexing urban elite, world, the Balkans, and the Horn of targets the ordinary men and woman in Africa. Signs are information loaded and the street. This indicates that the use of English in signage is not per se a sign text dense, showing business, products, of upscaling processes. Furthermore, or services, which is typical for what other languages mark social positioning Trinch and Snajdr (2017) call ‘old school’ related to food and food practices. signage. Often the store names, which are in large typefaces, refer to locations or
Figure 4: Signs of gentrification in Gamlestaden (Holländareplatsen 4-6)
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 51 surnames, with additional symbols and ‘locking window’ in capital letters on pictures. the canopy above the locking window. The combination of English and In addition, a smaller neon sign in the Swedish, which is often found in window says ‘Open’ in English. This is Olivedal (see above), is less frequent in a referential use of English. The same Gamlestaden. When this combination is kind of pragmatic use of English, with found, English has the same emblematic ‘WELCOME’ in capital letters written on or symbolic function as found in the one window pane, is found in another Olivedal neighbourhood (see the Gothia small restaurant or snack bar in the Falafel sign, figure 5). area, serving Balkan specialties. This Gothia Falafel is a Palestinian establishment additionally well illustrates vegetarian/vegan fast food stand in businesses in Gamlestaden, with its ‘old Gamlestaden. Gothia Falafel is located in school’, text-dense storefront, with non- the premises of another restaurant, ‘Old standard forms and complementary Corner’, but is a separate business. The pictures. Even though the bar does sign displayed in white on green uses a not display any business name on the combination of English and Swedish. The storefront, dishes on offer are written on trademark ‘Gothia Falafel’ is found above a blackboard outside the restaurant, and and under the actual locking window of a board in the window displays photos the fast food establishment. ‘Gothia’ is an of dishes accompanied by the printed established international term, indexing names of the dishes (Burek/Pita, Cevapi, contemporary Gothenburg and its Souvlaki). Inside the restaurant, Swedish relationship to the history of the Goths, and Bosnian are used on menus and frequently used in Gothenburg for hotels other texts (sayings). It is clear that these and sport events. Falafel is an established sign producers use a specific gastronomic Swedish term today, thus does not form register to promote their businesses and part of a prestigious register associated simultaneously to socially differentiate with a differentiated food practice. The and position them as serving authentic sign also has the English name ‘Old food. Corner’ and the Swedish term LUCKAN
Figure 5: Emblematic usage of English in Gamlestaden (Artillerigatan)
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 52 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL
Neither Swedish nor Bosnian are generally considered a valued linguistic associated with prestige in Gamlestaden. capital and used much more frequently Additionally, Swedish functions as lingua in Olivedal than in Gamlestaden, Arabic franca for speakers of different immigrant is not associated with much prestige languages, and is used referentially in in Sweden or in Gothenburg due to combination with these languages in its reputation as low status immigrant restaurant signs. The referential use of language. This is reflected in our data: English is more frequent on other types Arabic occurs much more frequently in of businesses in Gamlestaden, such as Gamlestaden, where more inhabitants small travel businesses, money exchange, are born abroad, unemployment rates and money transfer agencies, in addition are considerably higher and average to small scale commerce, which often are income is considerably lower than much diversified shops. in Olivedal (fig. 1): 22 storefronts in Gamlestaden used Arabic, mostly in combination with other languages, while Communicative only two – a Lebanese and a Palestinian functions and restaurant – did so in Olivedal. The commodification of way Arabic is used on signs in the two neighbourhoods largely follows the Arabic pattern of pre- and post-gentrification Arabic is the most commonly used signage described by Trinch and Snajdr foreign language after English in the for Brooklyn (Trinch and Snajdr 2017: two neighbourhoods, though it is 85-86), as will be illustrated in the used to a significantly lesser extent examples below. Distinction-making in Olivedal than in Gamlestaden: a signs dominate in the gentrified area total of 24 storefronts used Arabic of Olivedal and ‘old school’ vernacular alone or in combination with other signage in Gamlestaden. However, our languages compared to 212 storefronts data also shows that Arabic is used as with English. Unlike English, which is a tool to upscale restaurants in both
Figure 6: Storefront in Gamlestaden with ‘old school’ signage
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 53 areas, although this is done recurring minimalist design and makes the signage to different registers in the two distinction-making. Using this particular neighbourhoods. In what follows we will al-Tughra’i style as well as gold-colored give examples of these uses in the two letters on the logo and the sunshades neighbourhoods. also reflects scalar work and suggests an The Palestinian restaurant in increased symbolic value of Arabic within Olivedal, shown in figure 7, is named this setting. ‘Silvis’ after the former owner’s wife and The menu at the right hand side the present owner’s mother2 – a female of the entry contains many Arabic name written in an Arabic ‘mimicry’ font words written in Latin letters. All dishes (Sutherland 2015) which forms part of have Arabic names, and for each one the restaurant’s logo, as if the name rose a short Swedish description presents from the oil lamp. The name Silvis also the ingredients for Swedish customers. appears on the four sunshades to the Unlike the calligraphy, which indexes left of the entrance, but here it is written classical Arabic and thus represents with Arabic calligraphy in al-Tughra’i the high variety of the diglossic Arabic style, originally developed under the language, the transliterated Arabic Ottoman Sultans in the 13th century, words on the menu are all derived from but today most often used in religious Palestinian colloquial, a low variety of contexts. The calligraphy style signals Arabic which does not enjoy the same both worldly and religious authority, linguistic and religious prestige as classic but is difficult to read, even for native Arabic (Ferguson 1959; Badawi 1973; speakers of Arabic, because of the writing Versteegh 2014). The use of the two direction (from lower right to upper different varieties in the same context, left) and the position of the individual even in the same menu, sends mixed Arabic letters (Gibb 1986: 595–98). The signals about the status of the restaurant, use of Arabic calligraphy and the logo but since neither the calligraphy nor with the transliterated name features a the Palestinian colloquial seem to have
Figure 7: Restaurant Silvis in Olivedal
2 Silvis teaser, http://silvis.nu/index.html, 0:17, visited November 3 2017.
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Figure 8: The menu at Silvis any genuine communicative function in menu (historical photo from Palestine, this context, the visual language usage pictures of oriental belly dancing, etc.) presumably aims to signal cultural as well as the descriptions of traditional authenticity to customers who do not Palestinian cuisine and its health effects, understand Arabic. Thus, the use of also mentioned on the website, makes it Arabic appears to be a linguistic fetish, clear that this restaurant seeks to create in which ‘form and symbolic meaning a coherent cultural ‘semiofoodscape’ take precedence over content or utility’ (Järlehed and Moriarty, 2018). (Kelly-Holmes 2014: 139). Using a text- In Gamlestaden storefronts sparse storefront based on calligraphy including Arabic generally follow the combined with the two different registers principle of ‘what-you-see-is-what-you- of Arabic in its high- as well as its low- get’ with large typefaces, store names variety forms creates a ‘one-of-a-kind referring to types of business and identity’ that sets it apart from other products or what Trinch and Snajdr have restaurants in the area (Trinch and termed ‘old school’ vernacular signs, Snajdr 2017: 80) and contributes to an frequently used in not-yet-gentrified upscaling of the restaurant’s value of areas (Trinch and Snajdr 2017: 70). attraction. Additionally, the artistic use Jenans Gatukök is a case in point: The fast of cultural artefacts in the logo, on the food restaurant’s large bilingual sign in menu (two oil lamps on the right hand yellow and blue (corresponding to the side of the menu and four candlesticks colors of the Swedish flag) states the formed by the text of the set menus at the restaurant’s name in Swedish and Arabic left hand side) and on the restaurant’s followed by the food items offered by website, whose address is given below the the restaurant: ‘Falafel, kebab, chicken,
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 55 hamburgers, etc.’ in both languages. The is supported by two additional features: two languages are separated by a circular jana’in is made definite by the prefix label displaying the word Halal in Arabic al-, thus indexing a specific place, and Latin scripts, indicating that the food and a short a-vowel (in the form of an sold in this restaurant follows Islamic almost horizontal short line) is added guidelines. Contrary to the restaurant in on the top of the first consonant of Olivedal the Arabic typefaces used here jana’in - a feature indicating that the are immediately readable, indicating word belongs unequivocally to the high that Arabic has a genuine communicative variety of Arabic. The Arabic name of function. All other texts used by Jenans the fast food restaurant is thus ‘Food Gatukök appear in Swedish which serves from (the) Paradise’, and this is by no as a lingua franca for the ethnically means a coincidence. The restaurant is diversified residents of the area. located next to the Bellevue Mosque, Like Silvis in Olivedal, Jenan is a one of Gothenburg’s oldest and most personal name, which can be used for well-known mosques. From the outside women as well as for men, but it also has the mosque is anonymous without any a strong religious connotation, being Islamic symbols or decorations. The the plural of the Arabic word janna (pl. only exception is a sign at a backdoor Jinan/ Jenan) – garden or paradise. In stating in Arabic ‘Women’s entrance to the context of this snack bar one would the mosque’, translated into Swedish as immediately interpret Jenan written ‘kvinnor ingång’ (women entrance), and in Latin letters as a personal name. a small piece of tape on the mailbox with However, the word used is not jenan but the mosque’s official name ‘Islamiska jana’in, another plural of janna, with the Sunni Center’ (Islamic Sunni Center). same meaning, paradise. This plural ‘Food from Paradise’ shows how the form cannot be taken as a personal mosque invests the physical space name, only as paradise, and this reading around it with religious meaning, which
Figure 9: Jenans Gatukök in Gamlestaden
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 56 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL is reflected in the visual language of reminds Arabic-speaking Muslims who the surrounding shops and businesses. visit the neighbourhood on Fridays This feature is also used by a nearby that Castaletta is worth a visit over the furniture store which has a large framed weekend. However, instead of using picture above the entrance with an open Swedish to present the dishes, as was Koran and an Arabic text saying ‘God the case with Jenans Gatukök, Castaletta (is) the Almighty and Muhammad (is) displays photos of the food and write his messenger’. Commercial companies the Arabic names in Latin letters so as thus draw on the religious place-making to allow customers who do not speak of the otherwise anonymous mosque, Arabic to read and pronounce the dishes but this is merely visible to those who as well as getting a visual impression are able to read Arabic. Moreover, in of the food. This ‘proxy-approach’ of areas like Gamlestaden, with many using posters, stickers, and other cheap different groups of Muslim immigrants, advertising media used by companies religiosity is not only indexed through located outside the neighbourhood neighbouring companies’ use of names is frequently used by such diverse and religious expressions, but also by the businesses as transport and relocation fact that the register of classical Arabic, companies, translators, and other as it appears in e.g. the word al-jana’in, smaller companies which try to exploit is the holy language of Islam and that the horizontal mobility of mosque-goers using it in writing therefore signals ‘high as well as the communicative effects of Islam’ (Moser 2012: 2921–22). the Arabic language for their own scalar The southern part of Gamlestaden work.. (Bellevue) is home to four mosques, and In Gamlestaden Arabic is thus not this attracts many visitors on Fridays from used as a fetish, but has a communicative all over Gothenburg, who participate and referential function, either as in the Friday prayer and then often go a religious register to upscale local shopping or have lunch or coffee in the businesses through the use of religious area afterwards. The mobility created terminology or the high-variety of by the mosques’ pull-effect is utilized classical Arabic, or by using the pull- by restaurants and other companies to effect of the religious institutions for upscale their business, through what commercial ends. Furthermore, though could be termed ‘a proxy-approach’. the registers used by Silvis and Jenan’s The Castaletta restaurant, located in Gatukök differ in the sense that the an industrial suburb 5 km north of former indexes non-native speakers of Gamlestaden, illustrates how it works: Arabic while the latter indexes religiously The restaurant has put up a poster with devoted Muslims, both registers are a menu and contact information at a prestigious and highly valued in their window in the immediate vicinity of two local context. They are therefore likely of the mosques. The poster promotes a to be used as aspirational interaction special offer in Arabic where customers in the two different neighbourhoods, can ‘Brunch and enjoy listening to thus echoing distinction-making and (the famous Lebanese singer, author’s up-scalar work. Castaletta, on the other remark) Feirouz’ songs every Saturday hand, uses a gastronomic register which and Sunday between 9 and 13’ and primarily indexes Arabic-speaking ‘enjoy a luxurious meal from Restaurant customers, but due to the extensive use of Castaletta as you like (it)’. The poster pictures on the poster, non-Arab Muslims
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 57
Figure 10: Castaletta’s poster in Gamlestaden can comprehend the register, resonating provides an example of a traditional Old school vernacular signage. food cart in Gamlestaden (left) and a distinction-making food truck in the Olivedal neighbourhood (right). Food trucks and The picture of the simple food cart in registers as mobile Gamlestaden shows a number of modern gentrification Swedish words or loanwords, such as the Arabic falafel and kebab and the English resources burger. Although the Swedish Academy’s In this last section, we will focus on the Dictionary (SAOL) only lists the simple use and function of gastronomic registers forms (kebab entered in 1986, falafel and food trucks within gentrification in 2006) of these Arabic words, their processes. In Gothenburg, these used social acceptance as part of the Swedish to be rather simple mobile food carts language is clearly reflected in common that were serving generic and cheap fast composite expressions such as kebabrulle food, but they are now rapidly replaced (‘kebab roll’) and falafeltallrik (‘falafel by chic and designed cars that offer more roll plate’).3 These features of Arabic exclusive and gourmet food. We argue have in the last three decades become that both are at the same time gentrified part of a new Swedish gastronomic and serving as tools for the gentrification register available to the general public; of particular neighbourhoods. Figure 11
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 58 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL both working class and middle class It is therefore not surprising that we find people master it. Its establishment in an entire menu in Italian exhibited on Sweden is mainly due to immigration the street in Olivedal (figure 11, bottom of Arabic-speaking people who first right). When you enter this and other spread the names through their snack Italian restaurants and cafés in Olivedal bars. Later, when the Swedes got familiar and other central middle class areas in with these foodstuffs, a market emerged Gothenburg, you are often greeted by a for a broader circulation of falafel via Buongiorno (‘Good day’) or Prego (‘Can I supermarkets, restaurants, and home help you/Please’) and then thanked with cooking. a Grazie (‘Thanks’). The staff generally The same can be said of some Italian mixes such Italian expressions with coffee terms: espresso and cappuccino were Swedish, and many customers include included in the SAOL in 1986 and caffe some Italian words in their orderings. latte in 2006, and today they are used Similarly, some customers to Arabic- across class boundaries. However, after spoken restaurants and food carts try more than a decade of intense exposure pronouncing the dishes in Arabic and in restaurants, on TV and lifestyle inserting Arabic expressions like shukran magazines, and weekend trips to Italy, a (‘thanks’) and habibi (‘my friend’). sector of the Swedish urban elite has now However, this is rather done to signal acquired skills enough to order a full positive attitudes to Arabic language and dinner in ‘Italian’. A new gastronomic culture, and to counter the stigmatized linguistic register thus emerges which image generally ascribed to Arabic in the urban elite uses for marking social Gothenburg and many other European class belonging and differentiated taste. cities. Due to the low social value of
Figure 11: Foodtrucks and menus in Gamlestaden (left) and Olivedal (right)
3 Usage of these foreign food words in Sweden is documented since the 1970s (https://www.google.com/ url?q=https://svenska.se/so/?sok%3Dkebab%26pz%3D4&sa=D&ust=1510304067787000&usg=AFQ jCNH0B-KnF1eN2gUZ9zvbT5CL-F-pBQ ) but we sustain that it is only with their later incorporation into the Swedish Academy’s Dictionary that we can see them as officially Swedish, and hence as part of popular gastronomic registers.
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Arabic in these places it is immobile and language here co-occurs and interacts normally restricted to social interactions with features of the built environment. It is among Arabic speaking people, whereas the form and symbolic value of words and the prestige associated with languages expressions that count, not their content and cultures such as Italian and English and connection to an on-site living makes them – or more precisely particular language community. The Vietnamese linguistic features that form part of a words Bhán mì on the Olivedal food- gastronomic register – highly mobile truck is in Kelly Holmes’ (2014) words, and useful resources for social up-scaling a ‘linguistic fetish’ that contributes to the of people, places, and businesses. ongoing socioeconomic up-scaling of the While the popular gastronomic neighbourhood. register of Swedish that includes The Vietnamese food truck is not Arabic names such as falafel and kebab just any food truck; it is part of one of indexes properties of the speakers’ last years’ more spectacular restaurant present situation and status, the elite investments in Gothenburg. The gastronomic register of Swedish that company Avenyfamiljen (‘The Avenue includes basic politeness phrases and full Family’) is one of the city’s most powerful menus in Italian, in addition to isolated players in the restaurant scene. In 2013 names of exotic and faraway foodstuffs they purchased the buildings of the such as the Vietnamese bánh mì (see fig. old auction house on 3e Långgatan and 11), rather indexes a situation and status within a few months in 2014 they opened the speaker is aspiring to (Irvine 2001). three restaurants, one food truck, a wine Furthermore, the visual and graphic bar, a bakery, and a ‘cultural arena’. form given to expressions of these two They wanted to create a cosmopolitan gastronomic registers in commercial air to the neighbourhood and thus signage are closely related to the two chose a mix of foreign kitchens and patterns of pre- and post-gentrification names: the Mexican Tacos&Tequila, the in Brooklyn described by Trinch Italian Taverna Averna, the Vietnamese and Snajdr (2017): the many-wordy, Bánh Mì, the French Levantine, and the vernacular and inclusive ‘old school’ ‘international Chinese restaurant’ Made signs, and the minimalist, exclusive and in China (figure 12). witty distinction-making storefronts. As Krase and Shortell (2011: 372) The elite gastronomic register say, those with power ‘differentiate’ the is not only mixing bits of high-status urban space through ‘appropriation languages with Swedish, but also and domination’. With their choice of features minimalist design, celebration highly designed and ethnically themed of vernacular lettering and foreign kitchens, Avenyfamiljen appropriated a diacritics, and the rejection of overt variety of linguistic, visual, and material signs of commercial dependency or resources from other cultures and places sponsorship, such as the Pepsi logo on to attract financially strong consumers the blue sandwich board in Gamlestaden and consolidate their domination of the (fig. 11, bottom left). city’s restaurants, and its residents’ taste In Olivedal we find a retro-chic preferences. Each restaurant displays Citroën food truck offering Vietnamese distinction-making signage (e.g. the Bánh Mìs, or sandwiches. As in Leeman minimalist and playful meta-commentary and Modan’s (2010) study of Chinatown produced by the name Made in China) in Washington DC, commodified but also features commissioned street
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 60 JÄRLEHED, LYKKE NIELSEN & ROSENDAL art and graffiti, such as the adaptation contributes to what Leeman and Modan of communist Chinese iconography (2009: 338) describe as the ‘blurring to celebrate Gothenburg’s emblematic of the boundaries between culture and but lost shipyards (mural inside Made consumption’: ‘Culture is used both to in China). The ‘visual symbolic capital’ frame public space and to legitimate the (Gendelman and Aiello 2010: 258) of appropriation of that space by private and street art is clearly illustrated by the fact commercial interests (Zukin 1998). As that the owners chose to pose in front of cities and themed environments become it in local media coverage.4 sites of ‘shopertainment’ (Hannigan In addition to the above, 1998), consumption becomes culture, Avenyfamiljen created Auktionshusets and culture becomes consumption. Kulturarena, a space for ‘cultural events’ What we see in Gothenburg is part which so far mainly have consisted in of a worldwide process of up-scaling of stand-up and fashion shows, weddings, street-food (e.g. Hanser and Hyde 2014; corporate events, and conferences Martin 2014; Newman and Burnett (https://www.auktionsverketkulturarena. 2013). The process is reflected in the se/). That is, what is offered here is a kind linguistic landscape in several ways: of commercialized and sanitized culture the Swedish terms gatukök and matvagn directed to the same audience as the one are replaced by the English food truck; attracted by the thematised restaurants the city of Gothenburg offers several at the street level of the building. street food markets and festivals in Altogether, Avenyfamiljen’s different parts of town; and the city’s establishment on 3e Långgatan convention bureau includes a detailed illustrates the intermingling of public verbal and visual description of the city’s and private initiatives common to food trucks on its webpage (http://www. gentrification processes (the investor goteborg.com/en/foodtrucks/). The city needed permissions of the local civil council is thus deeply involved in these servants). In particular, this investment up-scaling processes. Until a renovation
Figure 12: Storefront and mural in Made in China, Olivedal
4 Similarly, Papen (2015, 20) has shown how street-art in Berlin ‘albeit illegal, is not only tolerated but seen as attractive and used for the purposes of place-making – advertising the neighbourhood to entice new residents, visitors, tourists and investors’.
© Järlehed, Lykke Nielsen, Rosendal and CMDR. 2018 Language, food and gentrification 61 of the central market hall (Saluhallen) vertical and uneven distribution of social began in 2010, simple, white, food carts and economic power. People reproduce like the ones found in Gamlestaden were this hierarchy and orient after it as they standing on Kungstorget or the ‘Royal make their daily choices of consumption Square’ in central Gothenburg. They (taking away a caffe latte or a bhán mì) and offered falafel, hamburgers, langos long term investments (buying a flat or and similar cheap generic ‘ethnic’ opening up a restaurant). foods, normally listed with unfancy We conclude that the (im)mobility of writing on simple white boards. When particular semiotic resources is largely the renovation began the municipality determined by the socioeconomic value cancelled all the licences. When the that they are ascribed in particular hall was reopened, new permits were TimeSpaces. By extension, this value distributed, but only to food trucks with ascription is conditioning the (im) an aesthetically pleasing design and the mobility of the people who are using ‘correct’ offer of thematised street-food. these resources, be they specific At the Royal Square and in the nearby languages, gastronomic registers or square by Magasinsgatan there are now foodtrucks. Drawing on and expanding about 10-15 food trucks, several of them Irvine’s (2001) account of register, we specialized in ‘ethnic’ or ‘exotic’ food put forward the notion of gastronomic – i.e. food that is deviating from the register to deal with socioeconomic scalar normative understanding of ‘Swedish’ work within gentrification. Gastronomic food, just as the one on 3e Långgatan in registers and individual languages are Olivedal (fig.11, right). part of systems of distinction. Within ever The described process contributed more competitive and trend-sensitive and still contributes to a horizontal cities, the production of distinction redistribution with gourmet food trucks emerges as key for socioeconomic occupying the economically important growth and success. We can thus see sites and the traditional or ‘old school’ how particular semiotic resources such food carts and snack bars being displaced as individual languages, gastronomic to economically and visually peripheral registers, fancy foodtrucks, and street art parts of town. It is also a vertical are deployed in gentrification processes process which resonates and reinforces to attract the attention on new investors, the unequal socioeconomic valuing of consumers, inhabitants, and visitors, different kinds of street food. and to thematize and brand businesses and places as unique and exclusive. Yet, although this study analyzed the Conclusion city of Gothenburg, globalization has This paper was concerned with the contributed to the production and interaction of language, food, and dissemination of a rather generic and gentrification. Examining traces of standardized repertoire of gentrifying social and economic mobility in the resources which are used in similar visual and material surface of two ways in cities all over the world (see e.g. Gothenburg neighbourhoods, we saw Hanser and Hyde 2014 and Irvin 2017 how the horizontal distribution of on foodtrucks, Kelly-Holmes 2014 and separate resources such as particular Girardelli 2004 on individual languages languages, gastronomic register forms, such as English and Italian, and Papen and foodtrucks is conditioned by a 2015 on street art).
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